11.28 UTTAR PRADESH 11.28.1 Introduction Situated in the northern part of the country, Uttar Pradesh covers an area of 2,40,928 sq km, which is 7.33% of the geographical area of the country. The State lies between 23°52'N to 31°28'N latitude and 77°30'E to 84°39' E longitude and is bordered by Uttarakhand in the north, Haryana, Delhi & Rajasthan in the west, Madhya Pradesh in the west and south west, Chhattisgarh in the south and Bihar in the East. It has international border with Nepal in the north. The State has three distinct regions namely, the Shiwalik region in the north, Gangetic plains in the central region and Vindhyan hills in the south. Uttar Pradesh has a humid subtropical climate with dry winters. The annual rainfall ranges between 1,000 mm to 1,200 mm and the annual temperature varies from 5°C to 46°C. The State is drained by a number of rivers, which include Ganga, Yamuna, Gomti, Ghagra, Betwa, Chambal and Gandak. There are 71 districts in the State, of which one is a tribal district and there are no hill districts. As per census 2011, Uttar Pradesh has a population of 199.81 million, which is 16.50% of India population. The urban and rural population constitute 22.27% and 77.73% respectively. The Tribal population is 0.57%. The average population density of the State is 829 per sq km, which is more than twice the national average. The 19th Livestock Census of 2012 has reported a total livestock population of 68.71 million. TABLE 11.28.1 Land Use Pattern Land Use Types Area (in 000' ha) Percentage Geographical Area 24,093 Reporting area for land utilization 24,170 100.00 Forests 1,659 6.86 Not available for land cultivation 3,507 14.51 Permanent pastures and other grazing lands 65 0.27 Land under misc. tree crops and groves 305 1.26 Culturable wasteland 405 1.68 Fallow land other than current fallows 509 2.11 Current fallows 1,122 4.64 Net area sown 16,598 68.67 Source: Land Use Statistics, Ministry of Agriculture, GOI, (2014-15) 273 Uttar Pradesh 11.28.1.1 A Brief Overview of Forestry Scenario As per the Champion & Seth Classification of Forest Types (1968), the forests in Uttar Pradesh belong to five Forest Type Groups, which are further divided into 28 Forest Types. Major part of the State is agrarian. In recent years, massive plantation programmes have been taken up in the State to increase the forest & tree cover. Through the Nursery Management Scheme, the tall saplings of 8 to 12 feet height are also being raised for planting. During the plantation season of 2019 more than 22.5 crores saplings were planted across the State under the Vriksha Mahakhumbh Programme. To promote tree plantations outside the forest areas, improve livelihoods and enhance income of the farmers, the State Government has exempted most of the trees species from felling and transit rules. Recorded Forest Area (RFA) in the State is 16,582 sq km of which 12,070 sq km is Reserved Forest, 1,157 sq km is Protected Forest and 3,355 sq km is Unclassed Forests. In Uttar Pradesh, during the period 1st January 2015 to 5th February 2019, a total of 163.76 hectares of forest land was diverted for non-forestry purposes under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (MoEF & CC, 2019). One National Park and 26 Wildlife Sanctuaries constitute the Protected Area network of the State covering 11.82% of its geographical area. Dudhwa National Park located in the State is known for successful translocation of one horned rhinoceros. 11.28.2 Forest Cover Based on the interpretation of IRS Resourcesat-2 LISS III satellite data of the period Oct 2017 to Jan 2018, the Forest Cover in the State is 14,805.65 sq km which is 6.15 % of the State's geographical area. In terms of forest canopy density classes, the State has 2,616.43 sq km under Very Dense Forest (VDF), 4,080.04 sq km under Moderately Dense Forest (MDF) and 8,109.18 sq km under Open Forest (OF). Forest Cover in the State has increased by 126.65 sq km as compared to the previous assessment reported in ISFR 2017. TABLE 11.28.2 Forest Cover of Uttar Pradesh FIGURE 11.28.1 Forest Cover of Uttar Pradesh (in sq. km) Non-forest Class Area % of GA 93.61% VDF 2,616.43 1.09 MDF 4,080.04 1.69 OF 8,109.18 3.37 Total 14,805.65 6.15 Scrub 586.52 0.24 Scrub VDF 0.24% 1.09% OF MDF 3.37% 1.69% VDF MDF OF Scrub Non-Forest 274 Uttar Pradesh 11.28.2.1 Forest Cover inside and outside Recorded Forest Area (or Green Wash) The State has reported extent of recorded forest area (RFA) 16,582 sq km which is 6.88% of its geographical area. The reserved, protected and unclassed forests are 72.79% and 6.98% and 20.23% of the recorded forest area in the State respectively. Due to non-availability of digitized boundary of recorded forest areas from the State, the updated Green Wash from SoI toposheets which is 13,433.75 sq km has been used as proxy to the RFA boundary and the analysis of forest cover inside and outside this area is given below. TABLE 11.28.3 Forest Cover inside and outside Recorded Forest Area or (Green Wash) in Uttar Pradesh (in sq km) Forest Cover inside the Recorded Forest Area Forest Cover outside the Recorded Forest Area (or Green Wash) (or Green Wash) VDF MDF OF Total VDF MDF OF Total 2,455 3,039 3,701 9,195 162 1,041 4,408 5,611 26.70% 33.05% 40.25% 2.88% 18.55% 78.57% *in case of Uttar Pradesh Green Wash boundaries have been used. FIGURE 11.28.2 Forest Cover inside and outside GW in Uttar Pradesh 5,000 4,408 4,500 4,000 3,701 3,500 3,039 3,000 2,455 Inside GW 2,500 Outside GW 2,000 Area in sq km 1,500 1,041 1,000 500 162 0 VDF MDF OF TABLE 11.28.4 District- wise Forest Cover in Uttar Pradesh (in sq km) 2019 Assessment Change Very Mod. Open Total % wrt 2017 District Geographical Scrub Area (GA) Dense Dense Forest of GA assessment Forest Forest Agra 4,041 0.00 62.68 199.94 262.62 6.50 -9.38 75.14 Aligarh 3,650 0.00 7.00 59.75 66.75 1.83 -0.25 1.00 Allahabad 5,482 6.00 26.00 97.21 129.21 2.36 2.21 36.26 Ambedkar Nagar 2,350 0.00 1.00 40.12 41.12 1.75 0.12 0.00 Auraiya 2,016 0.00 4.96 36.42 41.38 2.05 0.38 10.09 Azamgarh 4,054 0.00 1.00 49.00 50.00 1.23 0.00 0.00 Contd. 275 Uttar Pradesh (in sq km) 2019 Assessment Change Very Mod. Open Total % wrt 2017 District Geographical Scrub Area (GA) Dense Dense Forest of GA assessment Forest Forest Baghpat 1,321 0.00 5.00 12.06 17.06 1.29 0.06 0.00 Bahraich 5,237 240.00 156.11 153.99 550.10 10.50 1.10 9.00 Ballia 2,981 0.00 0.00 22.15 22.15 0.74 0.15 0.00 Balrampur 3,349 279.00 157.94 89.07 526.01 15.71 2.01 3.00 Banda 4,408 0.00 55.91 46.00 101.91 2.31 -0.09 4.00 Bara Banki 4,402 3.00 6.00 74.07 83.07 1.89 6.07 5.70 Bareilly 4,120 0.00 7.00 38.00 45.00 1.09 0.00 0.00 Basti 2,688 1.00 6.00 22.25 29.25 1.09 0.25 0.00 Bijnor 4,561 39.00 218.38 146.23 403.61 8.85 1.61 5.52 Budaun 5,168 0.00 8.13 23.91 32.04 0.62 -12.96 6.00 Bulandshahr 4,512 0.00 49.72 115.40 165.12 3.66 -0.88 0.00 Chandauli 2,541 7.00 192.00 366.26 565.26 22.25 0.26 10.00 Chitrakoot 3,216 81.00 319.00 186.40 586.40 18.23 0.40 40.51 Deoria 2,540 0.00 1.00 14.21 15.21 0.60 0.21 0.00 Etah 2,431 0.00 0.98 25.20 26.18 1.08 -4.82 -0.26 Etawah 2,311 0.00 62.75 188.63 251.38 10.88 9.38 45.05 Faizabad 2,341 6.00 10.00 73.30 89.30 3.81 3.30 0.96 Farrukhabad 2,181 0.00 14.00 33.45 47.45 2.18 0.45 2.00 Fatehpur 4,152 0.00 18.00 35.44 53.44 1.29 0.44 0.00 Firozabad 2,407 0.00 5.00 53.60 58.60 2.43 9.60 27.01 Gautam Buddha Nagar 1,282 0.00 5.00 15.00 20.00 1.56 0.00 0.00 Ghaziabad 1,179 0.00 8.67 16.55 25.22 2.14 -0.78 0.00 Ghazipur 3,377 0.00 1.00 28.00 29.00 0.86 0.00 0.00 Gonda 4,003 67.00 8.36 39.50 114.86 2.87 0.86 0.00 Gorakhpur 3,321 28.00 23.00 28.00 79.00 2.38 0.00 0.00 Hamirpur 4,021 0.00 80.00 147.00 227.00 5.65 0.00 14.00 Hardoi 5,986 0.00 16.98 126.87 143.85 2.40 -0.15 5.00 Jalaun 4,565 0.00 60.58 186.73 247.31 5.42 -1.69 37.97 Jaunpur 4,038 0.00 11.00 56.02 67.02 1.66 0.02 0.00 Jhansi 5,024 0.00 42.00 262.05 304.05 6.05 1.05 41.96 Jyotiba Phule Nagar 2,249 0.00 25.00 61.00 86.00 3.82 0.00 0.00 Kannauj 2,093 0.00 0.00 27.82 27.82 1.33 -0.18 0.00 Kanpur Dehat 3,021 0.00 3.00 38.00 41.00 1.36 0.00 9.00 Kanpur Nagar 3,155 0.00 7.00 59.00 66.00 2.09 0.00 3.00 Kanshiram Nagar 1,955 0.00 7.67 41.13 48.80 2.50 -19.20 0.00 Kaushambi 1,779 0.00 5.00 22.83 27.83 1.56 0.83 0.00 KheriT 7,680 804.91 158.21 309.94 1,273.06 16.58 -0.94 4.49 Kushinagar 2,905 0.00 2.00 32.84 34.84 1.20 0.84 0.00 Lalitpur 5,039 0.00 128.89 452.40 581.29 11.54 -5.71 33.18 Lucknow 2,528 0.00 162.00 216.87 378.87 14.99 13.87 2.18 Mahamaya Nagar 1,840 0.00 1.00 22.00 23.00 1.25 0.00 0.00 Contd.